wa-law.org > bill > 2023-24 > HB 1565 > Second Substitute

HB 1565 - Prof. education workforce

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Section 1

The definitions in this section apply throughout this chapter unless the context clearly requires otherwise.

  1. "Board" means the Washington professional educator standards board.

  2. "Cohort" means a group of residents enrolled in the same teacher preparation program who begin their residencies at the same time and have the same anticipated completion date.

  3. "Consortium" means a group of school districts, state-tribal education compact schools, or both, that partner with a teacher preparation program to support a cohort of residents.

  4. "Office" means the office of the superintendent of public instruction.

  5. "Preservice mentor" means a teacher who:

    1. Has at least three years' teaching experience;

    2. Has at least three consecutive years of performance evaluations under RCW 28A.405.100 with a performance rating of level 3 or above;

    3. To the extent possible, has an endorsement deemed by the board to be equivalent to the endorsement area sought by the preservice mentor's resident or has at least three years' experience teaching in the content area of the resident's desired endorsement; and

    4. Has been trained and selected using the tool developed under section 15 of this act.

  6. "Residency" means a yearlong preservice clinical practice in a public elementary or secondary school in which the resident coteaches with a preservice mentor, while the resident concurrently completes teacher preparation program coursework.

  7. "Resident" means a person enrolled in a board-approved teacher preparation program who is participating in a teacher residency program.

  8. "Teacher preparation program" means a teacher preparation program approved by the board.

Section 2

  1. The office and the board shall collaborate to establish an application and approval process for a school district, state-tribal education compact school, or consortium, in partnership with a teacher preparation program seeking approval to operate a teacher residency program.

  2. At a minimum, a teacher residency program must meet the following requirements:

    1. Residents receive compensation equivalent to first year paraeducators, as defined in RCW 28A.413.010;

    2. Each resident is assigned a preservice mentor;

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      1. Except as provided in (c)(ii) of this subsection (2), each preservice mentor is assigned to one resident.

      2. On a case-by-case basis, the office and the board may approve an individual preservice mentor to be assigned up to two residents;

    4. Preservice mentors receive a stipend of $2,500 per year;

    5. Residents receive at least 900 hours of preservice clinical practice over the course of the school year;

    6. At least half of the residency hours specified in (e) of this subsection are in a coteaching setting with the resident's preservice mentor and the other half of the residency hours are in a coteaching setting with another teacher;

    7. Residents may not be assigned the lead or primary responsibility for student learning;

    8. Residents are in a cohort of at least 15;

    9. Preservice mentors use the preservice mentor and induction standards developed under section 15 of this act;

    10. Coursework taught during the residency is codesigned by the teacher preparation program and the school district, state-tribal education compact school, or consortium, tightly integrated with residents' preservice clinical practice, and focused on developing culturally responsive teachers;

    11. The program must prepare residents to meet or exceed the knowledge, skills, performance, and competency standards described in RCW 28A.410.270(1); and

    12. Any additional requirements in the partnership agreement entered into as required under section 4 of this act.

Section 3

  1. Subject to the availability of amounts appropriated for this specific purpose, and as required by this section, the office, in collaboration with the board, shall award grants to school districts, state-tribal education compact schools, or consortia, with teacher residency programs approved under section 2 of this act. Grants must be prioritized to communities that are anticipated to be most positively impacted by teacher residents who fill teacher vacancies upon completing the teacher residency program and who remain in the communities in which they are mentored.

  2. For the 2024-25 and 2025-26 school years, grants must be prioritized to teacher residency programs at school districts, state-tribal education compact schools, or consortia, with the highest percentages of teachers with limited certificates, and to support up to five cohorts of residents seeking an endorsement in special education or early childhood special education.

  3. Beginning with the 2026-27 school year, the office and the board shall collaborate to determine additional grant award criteria.

Section 4

b. The model agreement must include the following provisions:

    i. The teacher preparation program must provide feedback and instructional support to preservice mentors and to residents in curricula, instructional design and planning, and pedagogical practice;

    ii. The school district, state-tribal education compact school, or consortium must support residents in navigating the teacher residency program, as well as school processes and structures; and

    iii. An affirmation by the school district, state-tribal education compact school, or consortium of its capacity and intent to hire its residents into teaching positions, with preference for positions in the resident's endorsement area.
  1. A school district, state-tribal education compact school, or consortium, and a teacher preparation program intending to operate a teacher residency program shall enter into a partnership agreement using the model agreement developed under subsection (1) of this section.

Section 5

School districts, state-tribal education compact schools, and consortia must use the standards for preservice mentoring and induction of residents developed under section 15 of this act.

Section 6

School districts, state-tribal education compact schools, and consortia must use the screening tools developed under section 15 of this act.

Section 7

School districts, state-tribal education compact schools, consortia, and teacher preparation programs partnering to operate teacher residency programs shall submit teacher residency program data at the time and in the manner required by the office and the board.

Section 8

  1. The board, in collaboration with the office, shall coordinate and regularly convene an advisory council of education partners. The advisory council must include representatives of state associations representing teachers, principals, administrators, school board members, and families. The advisory council must study problems of practice within the teacher residency programs and to guide and steer decisions for continuous improvement of the teacher residency programs that result in positive outcomes for students, school districts, state-tribal education compact schools, consortia, teacher preparation programs, preservice mentors, and residents participating in the teacher residency programs.

  2. This section expires June 30, 2033.

Section 9

  1. The board shall contract with a nonprofit and nonpartisan organization to evaluate the effectiveness and impacts of the teacher residency program over at least the first four years of implementation. The nonprofit and nonpartisan organization must have at least seven years of experience conducting high quality research to improve evidence-based education policies and practices that support empowering and equitable learning for all students. By November 1, 2028, and in accordance with RCW 43.01.036, the board shall submit a report of the evaluation to the appropriate committees of the legislature.

  2. This section expires August 1, 2029.

Section 10

The office and the board may adopt rules under chapter 34.05 RCW that are necessary for the effective and efficient implementation of this chapter.

Section 12

  1. By October 1, 2023, and in compliance with RCW 43.01.036, the office of the superintendent of public instruction must submit to the appropriate committees of the legislature a report recommending whether and how the state should establish a teacher exchange program.

  2. At a minimum, the report must include:

    1. The benefits and challenges of implementing a teacher exchange program in Washington;

    2. Whether, and to what extent, a teacher exchange program would create opportunities for professional growth for teachers in Washington and other countries, facilitate cross-cultural awareness and enrichment, and address Washington's teacher workforce challenges;

    3. A list of letters, memoranda of understanding, or other documents addressing issues such as teacher qualifications, including licensure and experience, any United States visa requirements, and estimated teacher expenses and salary information, drafted to facilitate establishment and implementation of teacher exchange programs in Washington; and

    4. An estimate of the costs to the state and to school districts to implement a teacher exchange program.

  3. In developing its recommendations, the office of the superintendent of public instruction must consult with:

    1. School districts with experience implementing teacher exchanges and school districts interested in participating in a teacher exchange program;

    2. The United States department of state regarding the federal exchange visitor program requirements of 22 C.F.R. Part 62; and

    3. United States embassies and education agencies of other countries.

  4. This section expires June 30, 2024.

Section 13

  1. By October 1, 2024, and in compliance with RCW 43.01.036, the Washington professional educator standards board shall submit a report to the appropriate committees of the legislature with recommendations for the improvement of the quality and effectiveness of educator preparation and workforce programs. The report must compare the requirements of the teacher residency program established in this act and registered teacher apprenticeship programs. The report must include proposals for better coordination between educator preparation partners and opportunities for educator preparation and workforce program improvement and expansion.

  2. This section expires August 1, 2025.

Section 14

1.

The beginning educator support team program is established to improve beginning educator quality and increase beginning educator retention.

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    1. The state beginning educator support team program, administered by the office of the superintendent of public instruction, must support local beginning educator support team programs by:

      1. Providing technical assistance, intentional and sustained professional learning opportunities, and induction coaching services to school leaders and mentors;

      2. Facilitating collaborative, coordinated learning between local beginning educator support team programs; and

      3. Allocating grants to local beginning educator support team programs as provided in subsection (3) of this section.

    2. The office of the superintendent of public instruction shall notify school districts and state-tribal education compact schools about the beginning educator support team program and encourage application for program funds.

  2. Subject to the availability of amounts appropriated for this specific purpose, the office of the superintendent of public instruction shall allocate funds for the implementation of a local beginning educator support team program, with the components described in subsection (5) of this section, on a competitive basis to individual school districts, consortia of districts, or state-tribal compact schools. In allocating funds, the office of the superintendent of public instruction shall give priority to:

    1. Schools and districts identified for comprehensive or targeted support and improvement as required under the federal elementary and secondary education act;

    2. School districts with a large influx of beginning principals, beginning educational staff associates, or beginning classroom teachers;

    3. School districts and state-tribal education compact schools that have not recently been allocated funds under this subsection (3) and exhibit a readiness to implement a local beginning educator support team program; and

    4. School districts and state-tribal education compact schools expanding existing local beginning educator support team programs.

  3. A portion of the funds appropriated under subsection (3) of this section may be used by the office of the superintendent of public instruction for activities under subsection (2) of this section.

  4. A local beginning educator support team program must include the following components:

    1. A paid instructional orientation or individualized assistance for beginning educators before the start of the school year ;

    2. A trained and qualified mentor assigned to each beginning educator for up to three years, with intensive support in the first year and decreasing support in subsequent years;

    3. A goal to provide beginning educators from underrepresented populations with a mentor who has strong ties to underrepresented populations;

    4. Ongoing professional learning designed to meet the unique needs of each beginning educator for supplemental training and skill development;

    5. Initial and ongoing professional learning for mentors;

    6. Release time for mentors and beginning educators to work together, as well as time for beginning educators to observe accomplished peers;

    7. To the extent possible, a school or classroom assignment that is appropriate for a beginning educator;

    8. Nonevaluative observations with written feedback for beginning educators;

    9. Support for beginning educators in understanding and participating in the state and district evaluation process and using the instructional framework, leadership framework, or both, to promote growth;

    10. Adherence to research-based standards for beginning educator induction developed by the office of the superintendent of public instruction;

    11. Alignment to the standards of practice developed by the Washington professional educator standards board under RCW 28A.410.260; and

    12. A program evaluation that identifies program strengths and gaps using the standards for beginning educator induction, the retention of beginning educators, and positive impact on student growth for beginning educators.

  5. The local beginning educator support team program components under subsection (5) of this section may be provided for continuous improvement coaching to support educators on probation under RCW 28A.405.100.

  6. The definitions in this subsection apply throughout this section unless the context clearly requires otherwise.

    1. "Beginning educator" means a first-year through third-year principal, first-year through third-year teacher, and first-year through third-year educational staff associate.

    2. "Mentor" means a certificated principal, certificated teacher, or certificated educational staff associate who:

      1. Has had the certificate for at least three years;

      2. For principals and teachers, has at least three consecutive years of performance evaluations under RCW 28A.405.100 with a performance rating of level 3 or above;

      3. Has successfully completed training in assisting, coaching, and advising beginning principals, beginning educational staff associates, or beginning teachers;

      4. Has been selected using mentor standards developed by the office of the superintendent of public instruction and aligned to the standards of practice developed by the Washington professional educator standards board under RCW 28A.410.260;

    3. Is assigned to a beginning educator in a similar role or field as the mentor, and for teachers, to the extent possible, has an endorsement deemed by the Washington professional educator standards board to be equivalent to the endorsement area sought by the beginning educator; and

    1. Is participating in ongoing mentor skills professional development.

Section 15

  1. The Washington professional educator standards board shall collaborate with the office of the superintendent of public instruction to develop and periodically update:

    1. Standards for preservice mentoring and induction of preservice teachers, including residents as defined in section 1 of this act, based on the standards for beginning educator mentoring and induction developed under RCW 28A.415.265; and

    2. Model screening tools for the identification and selection of residents and preservice mentors, as defined in section 1 of this act.

  2. The standards and model screening tools developed under subsection (1) of this section must be posted on the website of the Washington professional educator standards board.

Section 16

  1. The office of the superintendent of public instruction and the Washington professional educator standards board shall collect, organize, and analyze data to make determinations about the quality and effectiveness of educator workforce programs.

  2. At a minimum, the educator workforce programs referenced under this section include:

    1. Washington professional educator standards board-approved educator preparation programs;

    2. Pilot projects implementing the bilingual educator initiative under RCW 28A.180.120;

    3. Beginning educator support team programs under RCW 28A.415.265;

    4. Recruiting Washington teachers program under RCW 28A.415.370; and

    5. Teacher residency program under chapter 28A.--- RCW (the new chapter created in section 11 of this act).

  3. At a minimum, collected data must include educator demographics, assessment scores, program completion rates, endorsement completion rates, program completer rates of retention in the profession, and program costs to the state and to the program participant.

  4. At a minimum, collected data must be analyzed and used to support, evaluate, and approve the programs listed in subsection (2) of this section.

  5. The data collected under this section must be maintained in the K-12 education data improvement system established under RCW 28A.655.210.

Section 17

  1. A comprehensive K-12 education data improvement system for financial, student, and educator data is established. The objective of the system is to monitor student progress, have information on the quality of the educator workforce, monitor and analyze the costs of programs, provide for financial integrity and accountability, and have the capability to link across these various data components by student, by class, by certificated instructional staff, by certificated administrative staff, by paraeducator, by school, by district, by educator's preparation program, and statewide. Education data systems must be flexible and able to adapt to evolving needs for information, but there must be an objective and orderly data governance process for determining when changes are needed and how to implement them. The comprehensive K-12 education data improvement system must be independently reviewed and monitored by the education data center and the legislative evaluation and accountability program committee.

  2. To the extent that data is available, the K-12 education data improvement system must specifically service reporting requirements for educators, parents, superintendents, public schools, school boards, the legislature, the office of the superintendent of public instruction, the Washington professional educator standards board, and the public.

  3. The K-12 education data improvement system must include the following information and functionality:

    1. Comprehensive educator information, for example: Grade level and courses taught, building or location, program, job assignment, years of experience, the educator preparation program from which the educator obtained his or her degree, compensation, class size, mobility of class population, socioeconomic data of class, number of languages and which languages are spoken by students, general resources available for curriculum and other classroom needs, and number and type of instructional support staff in the building;

    2. The capacity to link educator assignment information with educator certification information such as certification number, type of certification, route to certification, certification program, and certification assessment or evaluation scores;

    3. Common coding of secondary courses and major areas of study at the elementary level or standard coding of course content;

    4. Robust student information, for example: Student characteristics, course and program enrollment, performance on statewide and district summative and formative assessments to the extent district assessments are used, and performance on college readiness tests;

    5. A subset of student information elements to serve as a dropout early warning system;

    6. The capacity to link educator information with student information;

    7. A common, standardized structure for reporting the costs of programs at the public school and school district level with a focus on the cost of services delivered to students;

    8. Separate accounting of state, federal, and local revenues and costs;

    9. Information linking state funding formulas to public school and school district budgeting and accounting, including procedures:

      1. To support the accuracy and auditing of financial data; and

      2. Using the prototypical school model for school district financial accounting reporting;

    10. The capacity to link program cost information with student performance information to gauge the cost-effectiveness of programs;

    11. Information that is centrally accessible and updated regularly; and

    12. An anonymous, nonidentifiable replicated copy of data that is updated at least quarterly, and made available to the public by the state.

  4. All public schools and school districts must have the capability to collect state-identified common data and export it in a standard format to support the K-12 education data improvement system .

  5. The K-12 education data improvement system must be developed to provide the capability to make reports as required under RCW 28A.300.507 available.

  6. Public schools and school districts must collect and report new data elements to satisfy the requirements of RCW 43.41.400, this section, and RCW 28A.300.507, only to the extent funds are available for this purpose.

  7. The definitions in this subsection apply throughout this section unless the context clearly requires otherwise.

    1. "Educator" includes paraeducator, certificated instructional staff, and certificated administrative staff.

    2. "Public school" has the same meaning as in RCW 28A.150.010.

Section 18

  1. A K-12 data governance group shall be established within the office of the superintendent of public instruction to assist in the design and implementation of a K-12 education data improvement system for financial, student, and educator data as described in RCW 28A.655.210.

  2. The K-12 data governance group shall include representatives of the education data center, the office of the superintendent of public instruction, the legislative evaluation and accountability program committee, the Washington professional educator standards board, the state board of education, and school district staff, including information technology staff. Additional entities with expertise in education data may be included in the K-12 data governance group.

  3. The K-12 data governance group shall:

    1. Identify the critical research and policy questions that need to be addressed by the K-12 education data improvement system;

    2. Identify reports and other information that should be made available on the internet in addition to the reports identified in subsection (5) of this section;

    3. Create a comprehensive needs requirement document detailing the specific information and technical capacity needed by school districts and the state to meet the legislature's expectations for a comprehensive K-12 education data improvement system as described under RCW 28A.655.210;

    4. Conduct a gap analysis of current and planned information compared to the needs requirement document, including an analysis of the strengths and limitations of an education data system and programs currently used by school districts and the state, and specifically the gap analysis must look at the extent to which the existing data can be transformed into canonical form and where existing software can be used to meet the needs requirement document;

    5. Focus on financial and cost data necessary to support the new K-12 financial models and funding formulas, including any necessary changes to school district budgeting and accounting, and on assuring the capacity to link data across financial, student, and educator systems; and

    6. Define the operating rules and governance structure for K-12 education data collections, ensuring that data systems are flexible and able to adapt to evolving needs for information, within an objective and orderly data governance process for determining when changes are needed and how to implement them. Strong consideration must be made to the current practice and cost of migration to new requirements. The operating rules must delineate the coordination, delegation, and escalation authority for data collection issues, business rules, and performance goals for each K-12 education data collection system, including:

      1. Defining and maintaining standards for privacy and confidentiality;

      2. Setting data collection priorities;

      3. Defining and updating a standard data dictionary;

      4. Ensuring data compliance with the data dictionary;

    7. Ensuring data accuracy; and

    1. Establishing minimum standards for school, student, financial, and certificated staff data systems. Data elements may be specified "to the extent feasible" or "to the extent available" to collect more and better data sets from public schools and school districts with more flexible software. Nothing in RCW 43.41.400, this section, or RCW 28A.655.210 may be construed to require that a data dictionary or reporting should be hobbled to the lowest common set. The work of the K-12 data governance group must specify which data are desirable. Public schools and school districts that can meet these requirements shall report the desirable data. Funding from the legislature must establish which subset data are absolutely required.
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    1. The K-12 data governance group shall provide updates on its work as requested by the education data center and the legislative evaluation and accountability program committee.

    2. The work of the K-12 data governance group shall be periodically reviewed and monitored by the educational data center and the legislative evaluation and accountability program committee.

  5. To the extent data is available, the office of the superintendent of public instruction shall make the following minimum reports available on the internet. The reports must either be run on demand against current data, or, if a static report, must have been run against the most recent data:

    1. The per-pupil expenditures of federal, state, and local funds including actual personnel expenditures and actual nonpersonnel expenditures of federal, state, and local funds disaggregated by source of funds, for each local educational agency and each school in the state for the preceding fiscal year;

    2. Number of K-12 students per classroom teacher on a per teacher basis;

    3. Percentage of classroom teachers per school district and per school disaggregated as described in RCW 28A.300.042(1) for student-level data;

    4. Average length of service of classroom teachers per school district and per school disaggregated as described in RCW 28A.300.042(1) for student-level data;

    5. The cost of K-12 education per student by school district sorted by federal, state, and local dollars; and

    6. Data on student growth to align with the every student succeeds act (129 Stat. 1802; 20 U.S.C. Sec. 6301 et seq.).

6.

All reports and data referenced in this section and RCW 43.41.400 and 28A.655.210 must be made available in a manner consistent with the technical requirements of the legislative evaluation and accountability program committee and the education data center so that selected data can be provided to the legislature, governor, public schools, school districts, and the public.

  1. Reports must contain data to the extent it is available. All reports must include documentation of which data are not available or are estimated. Reports must not be suppressed because of poor data accuracy or completeness. Reports may be accompanied with documentation to inform the reader of why some data are missing or inaccurate or estimated.

Section 19

The Washington professional educator standards board must annually convene each educational service district and representatives from school districts within that region and Washington professional educator standards board-approved educator preparation programs to review school district and regional educator workforce data maintained in the K-12 education data improvement system established under RCW 28A.655.210, make biennial projections of certificated staffing needs, and identify how recruitment and enrollment plans in educator preparation programs reflect projected need.

Section 20

The purpose of the Washington professional educator standards board is to establish policies and requirements for the preparation and certification of educators that provide standards for competency in professional knowledge and practice in the areas of certification; a foundation of skills, knowledge, and attitudes necessary to help students with diverse needs, abilities, cultural experiences, and learning styles meet or exceed the learning goals outlined in RCW 28A.150.210; knowledge of research-based practice; and professional development throughout a career. The Washington professional educator standards board shall:

  1. Establish policies and practices for the approval of programs of courses, requirements, and other activities leading to educator certification including teacher, school administrator, and educational staff associate certification;

  2. Establish policies and practices for the approval of the character of work required to be performed as a condition of entrance to and graduation from any educator preparation program including teacher, school administrator, and educational staff associate preparation program as provided in subsection (1) of this section;

  3. Establish a list of accredited institutions of higher education of this and other states whose graduates may be awarded educator certificates as teacher, school administrator, and educational staff associate and establish criteria and enter into agreements with other states to acquire reciprocal approval of educator preparation programs and certification, including teacher certification from the national board for professional teaching standards;

  4. Establish policies for approval of nontraditional educator preparation programs;

  5. Conduct a review of educator program approval standards at least every five years, beginning in 2006, to reflect research findings and assure continued improvement of preparation programs for teachers, administrators, and school specialized personnel;

  6. Specify the types and kinds of educator certificates to be issued and conditions for certification in accordance with subsection (1) of this section, RCW 28A.410.251, and 28A.410.010;

  7. Apply for and receive federal or other funds on behalf of the state for purposes related to the duties of the board;

  8. Adopt rules under chapter 34.05 RCW that are necessary for the effective and efficient implementation of this chapter;

  9. Maintain data concerning educator preparation programs and their quality, educator certification, educator employment trends and needs, and other data deemed relevant by the board using the K-12 education data improvement system established under RCW 28A.655.210;

  10. Serve as an advisory body to the superintendent of public instruction on issues related to educator recruitment, hiring, mentoring and support, professional growth, retention, educator evaluation including but not limited to peer evaluation, and revocation and suspension of licensure;

  11. Submit, by October 15th of each even-numbered year and in accordance with RCW 43.01.036, a joint report with the state board of education to the legislative education committees, the governor, and the superintendent of public instruction. The report shall address the progress the boards have made and the obstacles they have encountered, individually and collectively, in the work of achieving the goals set out in RCW 28A.150.210;

  12. Establish the prospective teacher assessment system for basic skills and subject knowledge that shall be required to obtain residency certification pursuant to RCW 28A.410.220 through 28A.410.240; and

  13. Conduct meetings under the provisions of chapter 42.30 RCW.

Section 21

If specific funding for the purposes of this act, referencing this act by bill or chapter number, is not provided by June 30, 2023, in the omnibus appropriations act, this act is null and void.

Section 22

This act may be known and cited as the educator workforce act.


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